What's a Curriculum and Why Should I Care?

​Colleagues,
 
Today I’ll be helping some amazing members of a local non-profit develop curricula for serving the most highly stressed youth in our community. Those of you who are educators are very familiar with what a curriculum is, but those of you outside of education may not have as much clarity.
 
No matter which group you are in, curriculum is something that is critical to leadership. A curriculum is a set of performance standards tied to a desired outcome and includes the knowledge and skills necessary to meet each standard.
 
Want to teach someone something? Of course, there is a curriculum.
 
But what about selling them something, like a product, an idea, or a set of behaviors? Yes, there is a curriculum for each of those too.
 
What does this have to do with leadership?
 
For almost anything you need someone to do, there is a performance standard, knowledge, and skills that need to be mastered in order to complete the task. If the person can’t meet the performance standard, it means there is a gap in knowledge or skills. If you understand the curriculum for the task, you can focus on the area in which they need help.
 
I hope that’s not too heavy for a Friday!
 
Speaking of which, tomorrow is my birthday! The best present you could give me is a brief story about how you have used something from one of my emails to achieve some positive outcome. You may even get a party favor in return.

Do good and be well,
 
Frederick